iPhone problems

Two days after I got my iPhone I was listening to the iPod when all of a sudden it stopped playing. I thought that it had just hit the end of a playlist. But, actually, the phone had completely frozen up. No response at all. Blank screen and nothing would trigger an input. When I called Apple support they told me how to reset the phone by holding down the top button and the home button. That solved the problem.

Just now I had to use that trick again. But this time the problem was that the phone became increasingly unresponsive to input on the touch screen. I was unable to answer a couple of calls because of that. Eventually, the input just stopped working. So I held down the two buttons and, voila, it works now.

I’m still perfectly happy with the phone. My treo had to be rebooted from time to time, so I don’t expect perfection. Not even from Apple. Hopefully, this won’t be a recurring problem.

Update (7/23/07): The problem has occurred once, again when I was listening to music on ‘the iPod.’ But, overall, the phone is working well and I haven’t had any major problems. I have found some things that I would like to see done better, but that’s not surprising because I hyper-analyze the iPhone (just like everyone else). Speaking of analyzing the iPhone, I recommend this very thorough and balanced article. And here is another from a former Apple employee who is glad for the opportunity to freely speak his mind.

Let your computer or phone type for you: it’s like having superpowers!

The week in review – October 1st

46 Comments

Hi,I purchased Iphone in July 27th 2007. I have already got replacement 6 times due to different problems. It is so annoying when it freezes. You cannot use reset button because nothing happens even if you press and hold reset button no matter how long you try. I am getting so frustrated. As everybody knows, these days you can live without a cell phone few hours. I had to wait days because you got make an appointment with apple store if you want to get it fixed. Why can’t they give higher priority for iphone customers? I have no idea how anyone can force you to sign a contract for two years for a product that has so many issues. With any other phone, you remove the battery to reset where as with iphone, you cannot do that. I am planning to file a law suit against Apple and AT&T for forcing their customers to sign two year contract for such faulty product. Please post your comments if you are facing same problem.

I have had the iPhone since release and have all of the problems of locking up described by others. I love many of the features, but it is just unusable too often. I am the master of the reset now, but that doesn’t always correct the problem. I have also restored the software many times. All of the problems are intermittent, but extremely annoying-not being able to answer calls, freezing just trying to turn it on, and locking up when I look at it wrong. The battery life stinks, but I could’ve lived with that. I really now just need to get a new phone, but I am hoping that I am not locked into this one for life. This is not AT&T’s fault; Apple has not allowed them any control. I know way more about this phone than any in store AT&T rep. Everytime they release a new version of the software and I update it, I think, “Now this will fix it.” It never does. I need to stop wishing they will get it right.For people that are still lusting after these phones, please, do not waste your money. If you haven’t bought it yet, you likely can’t afford to make the mistake I did. I couldn’t wait to buy this thing, but I would do anything to get my old phone back. It really is just unusable and, frankly, a total waste of money.

On 8/10/2007 I woke up to my iphone ringing, and to my surprise I could not move the iphone slider bar across the touch screen to answer my call. I figured powering the iphone down would do the trick, nothing changed when I rebooted. I tried about ten more time with a few reboots in between and nothing, my iphone was as worthless as our immigration laws. So I made my way to work about 30 minutes away and stopped first at AT&T. When I got there they would not touch my iphone with a ten foot pole and said it was a liability to touch it!!! They would do nothing but get apple on the phone. Since my contacts were being held hostage and I had would have been worthless at work without them, I waited and waited on hold. I was told that I needed a software update and possibly a restore via itunes. I asked apple to have AT&T provide me with some means of communication or another iphone. They refused and said it was out of the question. With no other option I headed back home (opposite direction of my work) to follow what apple said. I spent nearly 3 hours trying to revive the worthless iphone with no resolve. I then called tech support from a borrowed phone and got the ultimate run around. Turns out I did everything I was supposed to and they deemed my iphone defective, then gave me a case number. They told me then that I was going to be charged $29 for a loner phone while my iphone was to be getting repaired. I lashed out into a logical prosecution in which they finally agreed to wave the fee. The “Product Specialist” then gave me a dispatch number and a customer relations phone number and gave me instruction on what to say when I had to call back MONDAY!!! He also said my “service phone” was on it’s way. Of coarse all of this left me without use of my new $600 investment, my contacts and my communication for days (I dont have a land line). So I called Monday morning, found out that the “service phone” had never been dispatched and that my CC number was required to even receive the “service phone”. By now I am steaming. They generated a new dispatch number and now they say my “service phone” is in the mail, would you trust them at this point? I don’t. So it has been days now, I still have not seen a damn thing in the mail, nothing from apple, only a huge phone bill from AT&T as punishment. Back when I had talked with the “product specialist”, he had said that customer relations was to compensate me for all of my troubles. When I called Customer Relations they didn’t do f*cking sh*t. Apple sucks and so does AT&T. The companies don’t give a sh*t if you are stuck and will do nothing to get you out of the hole while they remain ramming you with charges just like the 29 dollar slap in the face for the “service iphone”. FUCKEM. Channel 5 has picked up my little story though and I can’t wait to raise hell!!!!!!!!!! See you on TV.

I don’t have one yet, but hell yes I plan on getting one! (as soon as I have an extra half-a-G to put out). I’m so disappointed to hear so many complaints and criticisms (as far as recommending people against it and returning the thing). It is a first-gen and it’s going to have its minor problems. You can’t just skip to a second-gen. There’s no loss of pride when chosing to be a guinee-pig for these types of things. That’s just gonna make the 2nd-gen that much better! Stop being spoiled and enjoy being the very first because not everyone gets to. Remember, this is setting a whole new standard for mobile phones and it’s only going to get better.

I would like to ask someone who has problems with the sound volume when playing video or music? When I use the speakerphone or playing music or watching video, I can barely hear the sound even I adjust the volume to the highest level. I did all the adjustments and also called the Apple tech support but still the same result. Need advise.

it is so funny that the only ones knocking the iphone are the ones who dont have one…why are they so concerned? they seem to have done so much research on a phone that they dont plan on buying. I just find it so humorous. It cracks me up! I bought an iphone and love it and the other people i have met (not many) that have them love theirs too. I finally had to reboot my iphone after 1 month. 2 seconds of “tragedy”. I didnt die. What is the problem? How many were sold? a million? Of course there are going to be problems….I smell jealousy…dont hate…haaayyyy

I can’t imagine anyone paying $600.00 for a phone, let alone a first generation iphone. For the people who think Apple doesn’t drop the price, you are only partially correct. In the long term, technology always go down in price. Sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly. For example, the 2nd generation ipod will be no doubt much better than the first. Most likely the price will stay the same. That’s effectively price dropping. CompUSA is advertising a Flat Panel Mac for 2 Grand with all the fixins. How much do you think this computer would have cost 10 years ago or even just 5 years ago?

A cell phone is becoming your life line, a lot of people does not even have a wireline phone anymore. If the basic phone functions do not work properly, let alone all the other fancy features. It will annoy the hell out of me and it may even be life threatening. Just don’t tell me the basic phone features do not work all the time and it is still a good phone. Of couse you should not compare the phone and your computer as it has a lot more things to do.

I have the 8 and have the following issues;Did not save one of the Yahoo emails to sent.Will not connect to websites using wifi in home.Problems setting up Yahoo and Gmail on phone.Trouble connecting to Yahoo mail.Battery only lasts one day.Keep getting error message 1031,Several messages cannot connect to server.Like the phone but it has to work.

I wonder how many of the iPhone users are using a case with a magnetic clip. I work for Nokia, and you would be surprised to hear how many people come in complaining about phones acting erratic when they place them in to belt holster clips which seal with a magnetic clasp. That is slow death for any phone. FYI

I have an iPhone for 3 weeks now.I noticed most of the problems that other users did experianced as well . When using ipod ,phone freezes and returns to home page . Screen didn’t want to unlock several times when I was getting a call !!! Map quest closes by it self! Battery lasts not even a full day! And on top of it my charger stoped working !!! I never had so many issues with any other cell phone that I had in the past! And I payed too much for this things to happen every day !!! I’m returning this piece of junk ! And for you Mr.Steve Jobs I’ll have a video on You tube and sent to every TV station in the country by the end of the day with all of things that are NOT WORKING so You can watch it on Your $600 piece of junk !!! So let’s see how your stock holders are going to like that ! People be aware what you buying !

i love the iphone for one reason. i’m 30 years old, and when i opened up the phone from the package i felt like i was 11 years old…to feel that way for just a few days, hours, minutes or even seconds is a great thing. apple has created a really fun and amazing device – and i like to be one of the first to play! Sort of like getting a transformer when i was a child – it is only half as fun and exciting transforming optimus prime from truck to robot – if you have already watched everyone else doing it.

any one that says they are waiting for all the kinks to be fixed is a moron. No kinks means no support which means no money for apple. Always there is going to be a problem. The palm trio blow as a phone is general and the blackberry pearl still has its issues. Phones will always have issues, “nature of the beast” anyone out there who has a phone and they never had one problem with it let me know cause i want it!!!

This phone is pretty good overall. I have several complaints though as many others do. Most of which have already been listed I am sure. But, after paying $600 and then another $35 for the phone and activation (which took over 3 days by the way) not to mention the $70 phone plan where text messaging (unlimited) is yet another $20 on top of that. One can not over look the many issues people are having with the phone, and the service (or lack there of) that is being provided.

1. The coverage of Cingular/AT&T for the areas I travel in are junk. I never had any problems when I had my Verizon linked units.

2. Edge network is slower than molasses,..on a good day.

3. Sometimes the phone just will NOT hang up. I am talking to someone we say our goodbyes and I click “end call” the button animates and turns grey or whatever to signify that it did receive the command and then just sits there. It could sit there with an open line for upto and sometimes over a minute. It does this quite often considering.

4. What I can only assume are crashes and recovery of applications. Specifically in Safari, Google Maps, Ipod, photo viewer, and the contact list applications it just locks up. Then goes to a black screen for 5-6 seconds before finally going back to the main selection screen.

5. TOTAL LACK of ability to add your own ringtone. (Seriously…not so revolutionary of a device when you are locked into several poorly chosen ringtones that are stuck with the phone. Yea, I hear they are going to “allow” you to change it…but I already paid my $650+ dollars for it…

6. Poor calculator,…is there even a tipping function? did I miss it? (Not that it is hard to calculate it how…but common let’s give the user some candy here…)

7. Inability to sync with more than one computer and transfer data between both (Fails as a business device right there).

8. The home screen icons…hey those are cool. But, Why can’t it show the ACTUAL time on the little clock in the lower left corner??? Mine has never shown anything but 10:15. Yea, the time is at the top of the screen but still. That is not that hard to do. Same with the temperature on the weather icon. They did it with the Calendar…why not fully take advantage of these icons???

9. Text messaging – Running conversation….I LOVE THAT. Just scroll up and WHAM! you know what was said earlier no mistakes.

10. Voice Mail – LOVE THAT pick and choose which you want to listen to in whatever order you want to listen to them. No complaints here really. See, it isn’t all bad!

11. Non-user replaceable battery with a life expectance of 300-400 charges? What is that…1 year of business use? 2 years of average consumer use if you are lucky? Tighten the thumbscrews more for the battery being absurdly expensive as far as handheld devices go let alone the fact you have to “take it in” to have it done.

What can i say people iphone is the best phone ive ever had. Yes ive had the blank screen ok freak me out but the soft reboot help out but from what ive read is that user arent shuting down the apps right. To shut apps down right you have to hold the home button down for 4 sec. Really if you open all the apps in any computers all together of course it would crash. so just a little suggesting before people saying the i phone has problems. Internet is fast if you have a wireless network of course it slow with a phone service internet but really most places have wireless hotspots. Draw backs that is being fixed is the ringtone problems what is it no ringtones that not cool. Another thing is video capture what happen their. overall it a great piece of tech..

iPhone’s official SAR values are 0,974 W/kg to head and 0,694 W/kg to the body. Sounds like ancient fiqures to me. Basicly this means, that iPhone radiates to your ear nearly 2,5 times higher intensity than a modern 3G handset in European markets. E.g. Nokia N95 (FCC: 0,42 W/kg head 0,60 W/kg body). I think, it was late 90’s that near 1,0 W/kg SAR fiqures were a norm in Europe, but not nowadays.

iPhone copes with FCC standard, though: the FCC SAR limit is 1,6 W/kg. And most likely it will pass EU’s SAR requiements too.

To Mr. Design: Although I am not claiming the iphone is the top dog, what other phone contains the exact equivalents? BTW: the SLVR L7 was the 1st to have iTunes and no wonder symbian runs safari better, its v3.1! Of course 2G phones have more life because they all have less apps than the iphone, although most pda phones are 3G, true. Don’t forget that the product is targeted more to the personal aspects rather than professional, as well. What part of BFE do you live in that you are going to be using the internet on your phone? Only one reason why else, so use a road map. It isn’t nice to act like a know-it-all if you really aren’t one. I confess, I have never owned an iAnything before, but it seems that most of the phone’s problems are typical of any 1st gen, pda phone. It appears Apple works at patching things up if it ain’t right the 1st time, but I still don’t think I can wait that long. tick tock tick

Sounds like crappy little device, if it has to be manually soft-booted almost daily basis. All other mobile OS:es (Windows Mobile, Symbian and Linux (e.g. Maemo)) are inherently more stable than that. Manual reboot is rarely needed with those (with latest OS versions), if ever. I would like to see the faces of guys in AT&T/Cingular, when the customers start returning the iPhones: Cingular has stability requirement, which may be overlooked by them in the case of iPhone if the findings mentioned earlier in this thread are true.

Could someone tell me, what new iPhone will bring to this world? In addition to UI design, of course. The concerns:

1) MP3/4 and DRM was de facto already last year iTunes is just propietary method to create similar feature. The (un)famous Motorola ROKR was 1st iTunes enabled handset, not iPhone.

2) In latest Symbian and Windows Mobile platforms you can update phone SW over the internet.

3) Symbian 3.1 DO HAVE Safari browser (e.g. Nokia, Samsung, SonyEricssson, Motorola). According the analysts, Symbian version is better, than iPhone version.

4) Nokia has also introduced Web 2.0 for its phones earlier this year, so no industry first there either.

5) Windows Mobile and Symbian have heavy security shemes in all levels. Contrary to those, there has been heavy doubts about iPhone security.

6) There is even vendors implementing services and devices targetted to enterprices, but Apple has explictly said that it will not create iPhone apps/devices for bussiness users.

7) YouTube content has been open to other mobile platforms for a while, also. There is also phones with integrated GPS and native/OEM navigation system around.

8) iPhone’s reported talk- and stand-by times are poor to average when compared to the la(te)st 2G phones around. When the 1st iPhone batteries wear out in next few months to the “normal capacity level” the reality of battery it’s performance will be revealed: there is owners complaining about battery performance already!

9) Apple recommends to set native e-mail client to poll e-mail every minute. That will be totally different scenario compared to the “lab measurements” they are referring to in http://www.iPhone.com pages. This scenario is almost as harash to the battery, if there would be real push e-mail on it. And most likely that is reason, why there is no push e-mail client in iPhone.

10) According to Apple have to shovel 70$+ (30$ extra for a swap phone) in order to refresh iPhone with new battery (costing Apple less than 10$). You have also to wait at least three days just to get that battery changed! Also (any) non-warranty repair will be quite a expencive: 200$ or 250$ for each repair. 90% of which will most likely be reprogramming with R&D level programmer. That can most likey be attached to the bottom connector and therefore the whole operation will take maximum of 10 minutes to complete. Good deal – for Apple.

11) Has anybody found, how to *turn off* iPhone, if the UI jams: there is only touch screen and soft buttons on it – and you can not remove the battery…

12) have the Apple boys and girls ever tried to browse over EDGE, while roaming? Most likely not, as it is mentioned as valid use case in the User Guide. Even in home network the troughput is usually way too slow to have pleasant user experience.

I’ve never been a Apple product person. But since the iPhone came out, I’ve turned around completely. In my experience with my iPhone, it has been overall GREAT. It is the coolest phone EVER. The only problem I had was when I was typing a text, it was typing really slow. After I sent the text, I went back to check to see if the problem was still there and it wasn’t. I know that in the future they will provide updates for the iPhone to fix all of the bugs…so I don’t regret buying my “1st gen” for $646.77. And I don’t think the prices will drop anytime soon either.

Everyone can talk crap about the iPhone, but everyone knows, it’s still bad ass. 🙂

I was in Fry’s a local computer electronics store here in california buying a case for my new 8 gig iphone when the salesman asked to see it, while showing him it locked up. I knew how to reset my 60 gig ipod and this was the same but I did’nt hold down the home and on/off long enough thus looking like a dope with my new phone. Im just a little dissaponted if this is what I have to look forward to. If I wanted another PDA phone I had to reset all the time I would have purchased a PDA phone…

As I log more hours onto the iPhone I notice glitches reoccuring. One, after long use, I can longer dial out ising the keypad. The keypad appears and i hit the number to input, it shows up on screen but then disappears, so you cannot complete a phone number. Today, made two outgoing calls and when I went to speak to the receiver they could not hear me. I looked at the phone and the mute was engaged. My fingers were not near it, and the phone should not respond to any other touch.

The fix for the above is a reset. However, I have had to do this multiple times today and it is becoming annoying. A couple more problems like this and I am sending this back to AT&T/Apple

A Comment to Tech Geek: Oooh, as if everyone who bought the iphone didn’t have this miraculous insight that you have. Right, we all know it’s the first version and the inherent flaws you may buy into upon purchasing a first generation. Thank-you for being Captain Obvious.

I’ve had some problems I noticed today. But nothing that one reboot didn’t take care of. Good luck to all the people who purchased one now, I hope you all have better luck in the long run. And remember it doesn’t make you smarter for having purchased one now– but sure as hell makes you cooler. And at the very least, cooler than you’ll ever be even if you got one, Tech Geek.

I had problems with unresponsive features of iPhone (wouldn’t unlock, slow, shutting off iPod and even Google Maps). I did the reset you suggested and it worked. The reset saved me a trip to the AT&T store to get a replacement.

There are more glitches with the software. Soon you will not have the ability to put someone on hold or swap calls. This will happen even if you swap phones and sim cards.(Never swap sim cards. You will have to go on itunes and set it up again. As if it is another iphone on your account.)Just try to put someone on hold. When you take them off of hold you will not see the keypad symbol light up again. Then you know that the phone has disconnected the call. Also be aware that you cannot swap calls.My friend and I both had the same problem. I went to the apple store in Towson, MD. First they swapped my phone. It still happened. Next they asked me to go to the AT&T store and get another card.(AT&T are dicks. There don’t care about anyone with an iPhone) So I got a new sim. Viola, Same problem. But now my phone has no signal. While waiting for someone to tell me how to get my phone working again I noticed that 2 phones on display in the apple store had the same issue. Also, An employee’s phone in the apple store has the same issue. Now this problem doesn’t always show up at first. So just call your phone from another number and see if yours is affected. If so there is no way to answer a call after you are on another one.

Well my iphone was sent to me with part of o-ring hanging out of the right front glass. I ask them to replace the phone and AT&T said I would need to get Apple to fix the problem. I talked to Apple and they wanted me to send the phone to them. (pay $29.00 more dollars to fix their poor workmanship or go to Atlanta 2-hour drive to their store.) No thanks, I cut service off and just paid $65.00. No more AT&T bill ($70.00 +) and no ($599.99) for poor workmanship. Think they would want to keep new customers. Guess not. I still have no cell phone.

my iphone has done similar things to the blank screen. also i have noticed that when i am using google maps it will randomly go back to the home screen. its happened to me in ipod mode and also in safari! i don’t like when it happens and it is embarasing too especially when i’m showing it off to people and it randomly closes the program i am using…hopefully there will be a patch soon.

packetscan ur totally wrong. Why would apple release the 2nd generation iPhone for cheaper? Obv from the sales from the release of the iPhone shows that the price isnt that high compared to other PDA phones. The next generation iPhone will not be cheaper. Also the iPhone problems right now are nothing compared to how much other PDA phones problems. Most windows phones freeze and crash all the time. the small number of problems with the iPhone is expected. It is still one of te most stable PDA phones out and trust me iv tried every palm windows and blackbery device out

It might have to do with your songs, if you use limewire or have any songs that you downloaded illegally, those can cause glitches in your phones system, or your computer system for that matter. Just letting you know.

I think anyone who just bought a “ginnie pig iPhone” is foolish (it should still be considered BETA). I’m just gonna sit back and read all the blogs about everything that has gone wrong with it and learn from everyone elses mistakes. Eventually Apple should create a 2nd gen fixing most of the bugs found . After the product has saturated the market enough, within 6 months to a year it will probably be 1/8 to 1/4 off the origional price. Not to mention at&t servers almost crashed on the evening of Jun 29th due to nationwide overload.

So lets see.. pay 5/600 for a fluke 1st gen, or wait it out a few months and get a near flawless 2gen for less, when both the phone itself and network compatibility has improved. Hopefully it may be open to other more reliable cell carriers down the road too.

I had a similar blank screen thing happen to me. I went back to my Apple Store to talk to a Genius and was told that the iPhone is basically like a small computer and is in fact running OS X. So like a computer, every once in a while it may need to be rebooted to get it working properly if it has a problem. Hum, an Apple that crashes – go figure. Maybe with future software updates my iPhone will crash less and less. Until then it is push the two buttons and pray the little Apple symbol lights up.

Most of time slide bar does not work to unlock the phone. I have to reboot 3-4 times and wait at least 2-5 minutes after every reboot.Screen and back of the iphone gets too hot if I continuously talk more than 15 minutes. I’m going to switch the phone. I’m not going to use the iphone.

iPhone 8g purchase 6/29 at ATT and took 1/2 hr , but activated on iTunes without hitch. Froze that night playing TWIT podcast.

Discovered that sim card could be removed with small paper clip, but did not try a substitute. Got unlimited data plan as required,but immediately started work on being able to use it in the UK for a trip starting 7/5/07 and lasting until 8/4/07…1) Airplane mode turns off both or all radios, but retarting Wifi to use it alone is normally accompanied by retart of ATT. UK roaming w/o reduction was 1.29/min which a phone call to att obtained the .99/min roaming fee, but impossible to know whenor how the roaming fees would start. ?Each weather or time check/ by the second / min/ ? how many separate charges if scrolling around on a map of London.. I was carrying blackberry and iPhone and should have put both in airplane (radios off) mode untilabsolutely necessary. Purchased UK L6 phone for 30 pounds with 10 pounds of credit and it worked well.. Allowed Blackberry tostay on too often and it did many unintended “butt dials” to several different USA numbers..

iPhone worked best as camera and map device in UK and u Tube videos are interesting here. Contact handling is about the sameas blackberry with less “in your face options” with cleaner interface. Glass cleans well and does not scratch and the most disappointing part is lack of video capture&send mode. L6 phone for 30 pounds 60 dollars have adequate audio video capture that could be sent as mms message….

Problems..iphone was stuck, rebooted worked. Stuck again, reboot didnt work. Took it in, after 15 days you cannot return it. So i sent mine to be fixed. Cost me $30 bucks for a loaner when they told my my phone was not working and it was an iphone problem. So basically, they can have thousands of phone problems and charge us $30 bucks for a loaner, loss of all our memory on iphone, and $650. What goes around comes around!

The iPhone is one of the bestpieces of technology I have ever gotten my handson…maybe. Yes it has alot of great featuresand has taken the lead in the PDA world. But it is really hard to overlook the glitches. I bought my iPhone on June 29th after waiting in line for a good twelve hours. It has been about three weeks now. After two days, I was showing a friend of mine pictures on the iPhones camera roll when it suddenly froze, and no matter how many times i tried to reboot it, nothing happened. Then, about seven hours later it went back to the menu home screen on its own. Of course my friends got agood laugh out of it but it happens. Then a fewdays later i was listening to the ipod feature and all of asudden the screen froze and the speaker began emmitting a constant beeping sound that did not stop until i restarted the phone. No big deal simple restart. But the thing that is really bugging me now is that the sensitivity of the screen seems to be decreasing. When I go to slide the phone to unlock it, there is a very noticeable delay between the time I slide my finger across the screen and the phone unlocking. And this seems to come and go…sometimes its fine and sometimes the iPhone seems abit hungover.

I’ve owned a Ipod for 2 years now and have had 0 problems. Apple has a nack for getting things right which is directly reflected in their stock price which has roze from around $85 a share the first of the year to $135 a share recently. I just ordered a Iphone simply because I belive they are doing the right thing. The bar has been set SO high now for every other company that makes and sells phones it’s simply astonishing. Who ever says the Iphone will drop in price is simply not thinking. When is the last time you saw an Ipod go on sale? NEVER, thats when… The price is directly set by apple and just like the service plan, there are NO discounts. Costco dosen’t even give breaks on Ipods, instead the gimick is to toss in a few free items. I bought a treo 650 years ago and still use it with 0 hassles even today (until my Iphone gets here) People wrote bad things about them but I have never had a problem, just don’t have your dog fetch it for you or clean the fish bowl with it and your chances of it NOT working are very very low.